News from Algeria 2009

[Al-khiyal]

CIA station chief in Algeria accused of rapes

January 28, 2009 -- The CIA's station chief at its sensitive post in Algeria is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly raping at least two Muslim women who claim he laced their drinks with a knock-out drug, U.S. law enforcement sources tell ABC News.

Officials say the 41-year old CIA officer, a convert to Islam, was ordered home by the U.S. Ambassador, David Pearce, in October after the women came forward with their rape allegations in September.

The discovery of more than a dozen videotapes showing the CIA officer engaged in sex acts with other women has led the Justice Department to broaden its investigation to include at least one other Arab country, Egypt, where the CIA officer had been posted earlier in his career, according to law enforcement officials.

The U.S. State Department referred questions to the Department of Justice, which declined to comment.

"It has the potential to be quite explosive if it's not handled well by the United States government," said Isobel Coleman, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who specializes in women's issues in the Middle East.

"This isn't the type of thing that's going to be easily pushed under the carpet," she said.

The CIA refused to acknowledge the investigation or provide the name of the Algiers station chief, but the CIA Director of Public Affairs, Mark Mansfield, said, "I can assure you that the Agency would take seriously, and follow up on, any allegations of impropriety."

It can be a crime for government officials to reveal the identity of a current covert intelligence officer, and CIA officials would not comment the status of the person under investigation.

One of the alleged victims reportedly said she met the CIA officer at a bar in the U.S. embassy and then was taken to his official station chief residence where she said the sexual assault took place.

The second alleged victim reportedly told U.S. prosecutors that, in a separate incident, she also was drugged at the American's official residence before being sexually assaulted.

Both women have reportedly given sworn statements to federal prosecutors sent from Washington to prepare a possible criminal case against the CIA officer.

Following the initial complaints, U.S. officials say they obtained a warrant from a federal judge in Washington, D.C. in October to search the station chief's CIA-provided residence in Algiers and turned up the videos that appear to have been secretly recorded and show, they say, the CIA officer engaged in sexual acts.

Officials say one of the alleged victims is seen on tape, in a "semi-conscious state."

The time-stamped date on other tapes led prosecutors to broaden the investigation to Egypt because the date matched a time when CIA officer was in Cairo, officials said.

Pills found in the CIA residence were sent to the FBI crime laboratory for testing, according to officials involved in the case.

"Drugs commonly referred to as date rape drugs are difficult to detect because the body rapidly metabolizes them," said former FBI agent Brad Garrett, an ABC News consultant. "Many times women are not aware they were even assaulted until the next day," he said.

A third woman, a friend of one of the alleged victims, reportedly provided a cell phone video that showed her friend having a drink and dancing inside the CIA station chief's residence in Algiers, which officials told ABC News provided corroboration the CIA officer had indeed brought the woman to his residence.

The officer in charge of the CIA station in Algiers plays an important role in working with the Algerian intelligence services to combat an active al Qaeda wing responsible for a wave of bombings in Algeria.

In the most serious incident, 48 people were killed in a bombing in August, 2008 in Algiers, blamed on the al Qaeda group.

The Algerian ambassador to the United Nations, Mourad Benmehid, said his government had not been notified by the U.S. of the rape allegations or the criminal investigation.

Repeated messages left for the CIA officer with his parents and his sister were not returned.

No charges have been filed but officials said a grand jury was likely to consider an indictment on sexual assault charges as early as next month.

"This will be seen as the typical ugly American," said former CIA officer Bob Baer, reacting to the ABC News report. "My question is how the CIA would not have picked up on this in their own regular reviews of CIA officers overseas," Baer said.

"From a national security standpoint," said Baer, the alleged rapes would be "not only wrong but could open him up to potential blackmail and that's something the CIA should have picked up on," said Baer. "This is indicative of personnel problems of all sorts that run through the agency," he said.

"Rape is ugly in any context," said Coleman who praised the bravery of the alleged Algerian victims in going to authorities. "Rape is viewed as very shameful to women, and I think this is an opportunity for the US to show how seriously it takes the issue of rape," she said.

[Al-khiyal]

5 communes de la wilaya d’Adrar déclarées «zones sinistrées»

Mercredi 28 janvier 2009 -- Cinq communes de la wilaya d’Adrar ont été déclarées «zones sinistrées» par le gouvernement qui s’est réuni hier pour évaluer les sinistres causés par les intempéries. Ces communes sont Akabli, Aoulef, Tit, Deldoul et Metarfa. Cette réunion avait également pour but d’arrêter les mesures adéquates d’aide à la population en application des directives du président de la République. Rappelons que les communes de Timokten et Zaouiet Kounta avaient déjà été déclarées zones sinistrées depuis le mois de novembre 2008. Il a été également décidé la construction de 2 000 logements en remplacement des habitations qui se sont effondrées et la réhabilitation de 2 000 habitations endommagées. Ces deux opérations seront réalisées avec l’intervention des pouvoirs publics et les entreprises qu’ils mobiliseront. Le gouvernement a aussi décidé d’octroyer une aide au loyer de 12 000 DA par mois à chaque foyer sinistré pour se loger temporairement. En ce qui concerne le secteur de l’agriculture, qui a aussi subi des dégâts considérables, le gouvernement a décidé l’octroi des crédits nécessaires au ministère de l’Agriculture pour apporter un soutien à la réhabilitation des exploitations agricoles où des pertes ont été enregistrées et qui ont vu leur activité menacée. Les fortes pluies qui ont touché un total de sept communes dans la wilaya d’Adrar, essentiellement la daïra d’Aoulef, ont causé deux décès et provoqué des destructions et des dommages à un nombre important d’habitations, d’autant que les maisons dans ces régions sont construites en pisé, qui ne résiste pas à de fortes précipitations. L’intervention rapide des pouvoirs publics a déjà permis, notamment, le secours des populations sinistrées en hébergement temporaire, l’aide alimentaire, la couverture sanitaire, ainsi que la réouverture de l’ensemble des routes et le rétablissement des réseaux d’électricité, de téléphone et autres servitudes publiques. Deux membres du gouvernement se sont déplacés sur les lieux pour se rendre compte de visu des actions entreprises pour aider et secourir les sinistrés.

[Al-khiyal]

Algeria announces flood relief measures

January 28, 2009 -- Algeria classified five municipalities in Adrar province as official "disaster areas" on Tuesday (January 27th), El Moudjahid reported. Meeting to address the recent weather emergency, government officials said Akabli, Aoulef, Tit, Deldoul and Metarfa were heavily affected by torrential rains and floods. Timokten and Zaouiet Kounta received the same designation last November. The government also announced a number of emergency measures, including financial assistance and plans to rebuild or repair thousands of homes.

[Al-khiyal]

C.I.A. officer faces sexual misconduct inquiry

WASHINGTON, January 28, 2009 — The Central Intelligence Agency’s senior officer in Algeria was recalled to Washington late last year and is under investigation for allegations of sexual misconduct, American officials said Wednesday.

The Justice Department is investigating whether the officer sexually assaulted several Algerian women and videotaped some of the encounters while serving as the C.I.A.’s station chief in Algiers, the officials said.

The officer’s return to Washington and the Justice Department’s investigation were first reported Wednesday by ABC News. The case could be particularly delicate in Algeria, a Muslim country where the United States is working with local officials to combat militants.

The specific accusations and the status of the investigation are unclear. The officer, an undercover member of the C.I.A.’s clandestine service, was ordered back to the United States by David D. Pearce, the American ambassador in Algeria.

The officer’s identity is classified, but former intelligence officials described him as a convert to Islam who joined the agency before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and who had served in multiple overseas posts.

The officer’s alleged actions were first investigated by the C.I.A.’s inspector general, who then referred the case to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution.

Robert A. Wood, the acting State Department spokesman, said Wednesday that the “U.S. takes very seriously any accusations of misconduct involving any U.S. personnel abroad.”

“The individual in question has returned to Washington, and the U.S. government is looking into the matter,” he added.

Justice Department officials declined to comment, and government lawyers cautioned that it was too early to determine whether there was a prosecutable case against the C.I.A. employee.

They said that it might be difficult to bring a case, in part because federal statutes might not apply to sexual improprieties or other abuses committed in another country.

Even if the employee is not prosecuted, he could face administrative sanctions by the intelligence agency, including dismissal and loss of benefits.

[Al-khiyal]

Former CIA chief for Algeria accused of rape

January 28, 2009 -- The former CIA station chief for Algeria is suspected of drugging two women before raping and photographing them in separate attacks, according to court documents.

Court records identify the suspect as Andrew Warren, who is currently under investigation by U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service for allegations of aggravated sexual abuse.

According to documents in federal court in the District, Mr. Warren told investigators he had consensual sex with the two women and acknowledged that photographs of the two women were probably on his laptop computer. That information was contained in an affidavit supporting a search warrant for the computer; the results of the search were not included in those documents.

No charges have been filed against Mr. Warren, who is accused by the two women of raping them at a home in Algiers, Algeria. The home is leased by the U.S. government, which give U.S. authorities jurisdiction to investigate the accusations.

One of the women is an Algerian national who lives in Spain but occasionally visits friends and family in Algeria. She told investigators she first met Mr. Warren around late 2007 during a U.S. Embassy function in Cairo, Egypt, where Mr. Warren had previously been stationed.

She said he gave her a tour of his home during a visit on February 17, 2008, according to court records. She said they sat on the couch talking, and at one point Mr. Warren snapped a picture of her using his cell phone.

According to court documents, Mr. Warren made her two apple martinis. The woman said the second made her violently ill, and she began losing consciousness.

She told investigators she was physically paralyzed, but remembered Mr. Warren undressing her to put her into a bath tub and later undressing her and putting her in his bed.

She said she repeatedly asked him, "What's happening to me?"

Mr. Warren said something to the effect of "nobody stays in my expensive sheets with clothes on," court records stated.

A few days later, she told investigators, she sent a text message to Mr. Warren accusing him of abusing her. She said she received a message in return from Mr. Warren that said, "I am sorry."

She told investigators that she told her husband and psychologist about the attack, but didn't report it to authorities at the U.S. Embassy until she returned to Algeria in September 2008, according to court records.

By that time, authorities had already heard allegations from the other woman, who is also an Algerian national, but holds German citizenship.

That woman told investigators around June 1, 2008, that Mr. Warren had assaulted her after a party at his house between the previous August and September.

She said she drank several whiskeys and cola that Mr. Warren mixed for her. According to court records, one party goer said the woman had been drinking heavily and was intoxicated.

But the woman told investigators that the effects of her final drink was nothing like she had ever experienced from alcohol. According to court records, she immediately got sick and had to run to the bathroom.

She "remembered Warren standing in the bathroom doorway while she was sick, saying that [she] should stay the night at his house," Special Agent Scott Banker of the Diplomatic Security Service wrote in court records. "After this memory, [she] could not remember anything that happened the rest of the evening."

The woman said she woke up the next morning completely nude with no memory of how she got there, but knew she had been assaulted, according to court documents. Another party-goer said Mr. Warren had been videotaping her during the party.

CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield declined to comment on the matter but told The Times "I can assure you that the agency will take seriously and follow up on any allegations of impropriety."

Acting State Department spokesman Robert A. Wood said, "The U.S. takes very seriously any accusations of misconduct involving any U.S. personnel abroad. The individual in question has returned to Washington and the U.S. government is looking into the matter. I refer you to the Department of Justice for any further inquiries on this issue."

[Al-khiyal]

[Al-khiyal]

Mauritanian opposition FNDD rebuffs junta election plan

January 28, 2009 -- Mauritania's National Front for the Defence of Democracy (FNDD) rejected a plan by the junta on Tuesday (January 27th) to hold presidential elections on June 6th, ANI reported. The FNDD boycotted the junta's recent national conference aimed at setting a time table for elections.